Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 01/09/2025

Home

In recent years, the often-controversial removal of statues of confederate soldiers and war heroes in the United States was prompted by the realization that these traditional monuments referenced a past of racism and supported the agenda of White Supremacists. 2.4 The Role of Public Art in Placemaking Public art has taken a prominent role in contemporary urban planning efforts as a tool to reflect the local community and to establish place identity. The creation and placement of public art has been credited with playing a part in developing a sense of place through the creation of a unique physical character and enhancing the link between communities and places (Hall and Robertson 2001). America enjoyed resurgence in public art near the end of the 21 St century as a result of the development boom, and the corresponding effort to create new communities with distinct identities. Doss (2012, p. 24)notes that critics observed a"spectre of placelessness" that had become characteristic of the modern built environment. Harvey (Kwon 1991, p. 156) argues, "the elaboration of place-bound identities has become more rather than less important in a world of diminishing spatial barriers to exchange, movement and communication." Due to the reach of national brands and design through global technology and telecommunication, places such as shopping malls, airports, public spaces, office developments, and residential subdivisions all took on a "banal sameness" that made it difficult to distinguish one area of the country or community from the other. Cities across the country had created a built environment that lacked any sort of distinctive variation. This phenomenon was cited as a significant factor in the profound dislocation many feel from a sense of place, or community identity(Fleming and von Tscharner 1987; Hough 1990). Placelessness was viewed by sociologists, political scientists, and urban planners as a problem that disrupted positive social 57